Aberrant placental immune parameters in the feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV)-infected cat suggest virus-induced changes in T cell function

Chumbley, Lyndon B.; Boudreaux, Crystal E.; Coats, Karen S.

Aberrant placental immune parameters in the feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV)-infected cat suggest virus-induced changes in T cell function

dc.contributor.author	Chumbley, Lyndon B.	en
dc.contributor.author	Boudreaux, Crystal E.	en
dc.contributor.author	Coats, Karen S.	en
dc.date.accessioned	2013-07-25T19:08:15Z	en
dc.date.available	2013-07-25T19:08:15Z	en
dc.date.issued	2013-07-19	en
dc.date.updated	2013-07-25T19:08:15Z	en
dc.description.abstract	Background Immune activity during pregnancy must be tightly regulated to ensure successful pregnancy. This regulation includes the suppression of inflammatory activity that could target the semi-allogeneic fetus. Tregs are immunosuppressive; Th17 cells are pro-inflammatory. A precise balance in the two cell populations is critical to pregnancy maintenance, while dysregulation in this balance accompanies compromised pregnancy in humans and mice. FIV is known to target Tregs preferentially in the infected cat. Therefore, it may be hypothesized that FIV infection alters the placental Treg/Th17 cell balance resulting in aberrant immunomodulator expression by these cells and consequent pregnancy perturbation. Methods RNA was purified from random sections of whole placental tissues collected from both uninfected and FIV-infected queens at early pregnancy, including tissues from viable and nonviable fetuses. Real time qPCR was performed to quantify expression of intranuclear markers of Tregs (FoxP3) and Th17 cells (RORΩ); cytokine products of Tregs (IL-10 and TGF-β), Th17 cells (IL-2, IL-6, and IL-17a), and macrophages (IL-1β); and the FIV gag gene. Pairwise comparisons were made to evaluate coexpression patterns between the cytokines and between the cytokines and the virus. Results Both FoxP3 and RORΩ were reduced in placentas of infected animals. Neither infection status nor fetal viability affected placental expression of IL-1β. However, fetal nonviability was associated with reduced levels of all other cytokines. Infection and fetal nonviability impacted coexpression of various cytokine pairs. No obvious bias toward Treg or Th17 cells was observed. Conclusions FIV infection coupled with fetal nonviability alters expression patterns of T cell cytokines. These data suggest that functionally altered placental T cell leukocyte populations may occur in the infected queen and possibly contribute to fetal nonviability.	en
dc.description.version	Published version	en
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf	en
dc.identifier.citation	Virology Journal. 2013 Jul 19;10(1):238	en
dc.identifier.doi	https://doi.org/10.1186/1743-422X-10-238	en
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10919/23326	en
dc.language.iso	en	en
dc.rights	Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International	en
dc.rights.holder	Lyndon Chumbley et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.	en
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/	en
dc.title	Aberrant placental immune parameters in the feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV)-infected cat suggest virus-induced changes in T cell function	en
dc.title.serial	Virology Journal	en
dc.type	Article - Refereed	en
dc.type.dcmitype	Text	en